Uprisings (protests and riots) aren’t new phenomena. Especially not in the America which has a long history of rioting. Prior to the civil rights era the majority of these riots were race-related and instigated by white people. This was the case in the 1863 New York City draft riots and the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. But the uprisings and the riots of the 1950s and 60s were different. Certainly, they remained race related, except this time the oppressed stood up in a way that was unfathomable in the past.

For this reason, the 1950s and 60s were truly transformational years for America’s liberal democracy, but specifically Black Americans. In particular, this is owed to the work of Black trailblazers who became the faces of the civil rights movement and the fight for equality—trailblazers who laid their bodies on the line. Leaders such as Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, and Martin Luther King were essential to this fight. Groups such as the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (more notoriously known as the Black Panthers), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Deacons for Defense also played a crucial role in protecting and organizing Black Americans.

These trailblazers represented beacons of hope. Their presence, voices, and fervor lent power to the powerless. Their courage conquered cowardice, and they inspired Black people everywhere to seek change and true freedom because they deserved it. But change came at a cost. It came with struggle, pain, violence, and even death. They knew these costs. Yet, in spite of, they treaded along and endured the trials and suffering.

To understand this decision to tread on, you have to understand the many years Black people endured slavery and unequal, draconian treatment. The decision also stemmed from frustrations with the slow onset of change. How slow? Well, at this time, despite being nearly 100 years removed from the emancipation proclamation and the reconstruction amendments, Black Americans still had not experienced true freedom. I say true because the reconstruction amendments and emancipation proclamation failed to fully remove the shackles of racism and inequality, and socially, intolerance of Black people was overt, rife, and extremely pervasive. As a result, Black Americans were beyond tired. Tired of being lied to. Tired of being treated as disposable entities. Tired of the lack of equality. It was this same tiredness which morphed into rage that overflowed and set off a chain reaction. Jean-Paul Sartre captured the essence of this rage quite eloquently. In Black Orpheus, he writes:

“When you removed the gag that was keeping these black mouths shut, what were you hoping for? That they would sing your praises? Did you think that when they raised themselves up again, you would read adoration in the eyes of these heads that our fathers had forced to bend down to the very ground? Here are black men standing, looking at us, and I hope that you—like me—will feel the shock of being seen. For three thousand years, the white man has enjoyed the privilege of seeing without being seen, he was only a look—the light from his eyes drew each thing out of the shadow of its birth; the whiteness of his skin was another look, condensed light. The white man—white because he was man, white like daylight, white like truth, white like virtue—lighted up the creation like a torch and unveiled the secret white essence of beings. Today, these black men are looking at us, and our gaze comes back to our own eyes; in their turn, black torches light up the world and our white heads are no more than Chinese lanterns swinging in the wind.”

If we extend Sartre’s word to the context of the civil rights movement then we see that Black protests, revolts, and militarization were exclusive responses to Black oppression and the false promise of being truly freed. Freedom in this respect only functioned within the limits of what white people deemed appropriate. And through this lens of being freed, there was this persistent idea that Blacks should be grateful. But grateful for what exactly? Free from what exactly? Free from slavery, but not free to live in an accepting and tolerant society? Free to work, but not free to work in any job and receive quality education? Free to go to the washroom and use the water fountain so long as it wasn’t designated for white people? What was there to be grateful for?  Should they have thanked their oppressors for allowing them to no longer be slaves in a country they never chose to be in? Were the calls for equality tantamount to asking for too much? This is precisely Sartre’s point. There was nothing to be grateful for. And for this reason, the civil rights movement represented the reclamation of bodies. It represented the reclamation of Black power; and with this power, white people were no longer able to ignore the calls of Black people for equality. The screams and cries could no longer be ignored as the movement disrupted the natural social order. For this reason, Martin Luther King called the civil rights movement the “maladjusted conformity.”